Shatter
by acountkillerrr
Summary: Percy often wondered what it was like to die. He had come close enough times that he should be more at ease with it, but life is full of surprises. While struggling to find purpose, he gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and thrown into something he wants no part in. That is until, some friends get involved. How much will saving a friend really cost him?
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

Coincidence

The world had suffered during the time of the second demigod war. With everything thrown out of order by the rise of Gaea, forces were able to take advantage of the unprotected planet. Unknown to each other, two groups of heroes rose to combat the separate stirring evils. Even the threats themselves did not know that each other existed. They were two parts of a fractured world, a world spilt apart by different forces, and destined to remain apart. But though both pieces were preserved, saved, and restored, a threat on each piece remained, hidden, waiting like a snake to strike. One could not do much damage, but it held the power of knowledge, the knowledge only an ancient being such as this could possess, and this knowledge could bring about the destruction of the universe. This knowledge, this understanding, this truth; it was so crushing that no mere mortal mind could handle it. It was by chance that this ancient truth came to be discovered by another, more terrible being. Completely by chance that this terrible, powerful, revengeful being came into possession of one of the most important objects in the universe. A complete accident that this came to happen at the time when Earth was so vulnerable. Completely by chance, and yet, it seemed too perfect a coincidence to be brought about by the whims of fate. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't a coincidence after all.

CHAPTER 1

Aftermath

 _The darkness. The hopelessness. The thousands of curses that slowly killed him while he was powerless to stop them. The realization that he couldn't fight everything, he couldn't even hope to come close to matching the power of everyone. The crushing fear that he was powerless and insignificant as he watched the immortal devour gods and monsters without so much as a thought. Fearing that this would be the end, after everything they had been through, he would die here in this wasteland by the hand of the Lord of the Pit himself. Feeling the imminence of death as he had never felt it before._

Percy woke up with a violent start, sweat running down his forehead even as he shivered. The memories faded in and out, gradually getting hazier until he could control himself enough to get up and splash some water on his face. Water helped, as it always did for the son of Poseidon.

He collapsed back on his bed in exhaustion, his momentary adrenaline having left him. But he could not sleep now, not with the promise of more nightmares to come. He exhaled quietly and lay there, trying not to think too much about the dreams. Frustrated, he reached for his wrinkled and singed camp T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Grabbing Riptide out of his pocket, he groggily made his way to the newly re-built sparring area. The moon hung in the sky like a spotlight, throwing the decimated and half rebuilt camp into an eerie relief. He gave a momentary glance to the mostly rebuilt row of cabins, packed with campers, before setting out across the charred grass.

 _SWOOSH. THWACK. CRASH._ The dummies fell to pieces behind his aggressive sword. With every swing he pretended he was killing a monster. This always helped him, he felt in control here.

For the past few weeks, whenever he had a nightmare, he hacked at dummies until there was nothing left to swing at, and the sun was rising. He was often left with dark circles, but many other campers had the same. What really bothered people was his mellowness and quietness, which he had begun to slip into during the rebuilding. He was often lost in his own world, just trying to keep everything from coming out. The feeling of control, like he was _doing_ something instead of just building cabins or helping Chiron, was the only thing that drove him.

Gradually he felt his mind take over, changing his surroundings so that he saw a monster instead of a mannequin. Tonight though, it started to feel a little _too_ real for Percy. Suddenly, without even realizing it, he was picturing himself back at the battle, waching the fights around him as campers bravely lost their lives to the creatures.

His sword slashed and whirled, and in his mind's eye he saw the faces of those who had died, saw the monster kill them, and then he wasn't just hacking and slashing at pretend monsters, he was fighting to save those he lost.

And that's how a weary and nightmare stricken Annabeth, who was seeking refuge in the training center, came to find Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, surrounded by destroyed dummies, crying and tearing at his hair. She raced over to him in a panic and touched his shoulder.

"Percy! Percy what happened?" She called his name with increasing worry until he looked up at her with reddened eyes.

"It's all my fault," he whispered quietly. Her eyes filled with tears as she shakily tried to comfort him, asking what had happened to lead him to this state. He tried to explain, but it was all a mess. He was a mess and she was a mess and this had been going on for far too long, and they were only _teenager._ How could they expect to deal with the aftermath of going through hell and back?

She stayed with him until dawn, until their pent up exhaustion resulted in a sleep that was too deep for dreams. They stayed together, limbs tangled and sound asleep, until Chiron discovered them while inspecting the property during the early hours of the morning.

As he surveyed the damage he realized they had been keeping secrets from him and everyone else. They had been fighting a silent battle against their memories, with only each other for company. He thought back to how they had been acting after the battle, and he admired the way Percy and Annabeth had appeared strong and unaffected while around others.

Then he glanced at them again, and shook his head. _No child should have to endure what they did_ , he thought. _They are so young, and yet they have fought the battles of gods._

With a weary sigh he left, with the intention of waking them when they had rested enough. He thought it was definitely time to intervene, they both needed a break.

A phone call to Percy mom and Annabeth's dad later, he glanced outside to see the first campers emerging from the cabins toward the Big House. The sun was up, and the camp was awake. He had already closed off the training area, to give the weary demigods some privacy, but he decided to check on them again in case they had woken up. He took a step towards the door, when a crash sounded from the attic.

He stiffened and turned, before racing upstairs as fast as his centaur legs could carry him. There was some sort of commotion going on behind the stacks of boxes and artifacts that had accumulated over time. In haste he pushed aside an old mirror and moved enough boxes to make his way clumsily closer to the sound. It was like something was alive, scraping and moving around just out of his eyesight. He reached a part of the attic where the layer of dust on the boxes indicated that they had not been touched in a long, long time. Thinking quickly, he tried to deduce what the noise could be, mentally going through the possibilities. It occurred to him suddenly that the thing he was approaching might be dangerous, so with a quick grab he thrust a battered sword out of a nearby box and held it in front of him cautiously. He was close now, so close. The thing was making a racket, scraping and scrabbling at the boxes that surrounded it. He could see the back wall now, something that had not been gazed upon long before he was camp director. With a final push he shoved the box in front of him out of the way, and with a thumping heart and drawn sword, he faced the noise.

It was…a box? He was immediately intrigued by it, and whatever it contained. Letting the sword fall, he knelt down and dusted off the box. It was discolored and stained, but it was beautiful. Made of solid gold, it was about six inches by six inches, and four inches tall. There was writing all over it, but it was so ancient even he couldn't read it. The scraping sound was coming from inside, but he couldn't figure out how to open it. Then he saw a small hidden latch under the brim, and with a soft click he flicked it open.

With bated breath he slowly opened the now silent box, revealing a stunning velvet interior. In the center sat a gem about the size of child's fist. It was glowing and pulsating a pure red that was richer even then the velvet that surrounded it. While others would be captivated, he stiffened, the entrancing glow of the gem enticed him to reach out and touch it, to hold it. But he snapped the box shut in astonishment and fear of its powers.

 _It is too soon, this shouldn't be happening now. This shouldn't be happening at all._ He thought angrily.

The words of a prophecy suddenly came to him. It was an ancient prophecy, one so old even the gods did not know where it came from. Some even considered it the greatest prophecy of all, because it did not predict who would benefit and who would lose, and no one knew when it would come to light, or what events it predicted.

 _The stones reunited,_

 _The earth overwhelmed,_

 _The ancient ones hunger reborn_

 _The war to end all wars,_

 _By powers without score._

 _The gods cast down,_

 _Fate itself unbound._

 _Barriers broken,_

 _Friends betrayed,_

 _The battle for infinity will rage._

Chiron knew though, and with a solemn grip on the gilded box, he picked his way carefully through the hastily thrown boxes and relics, down the stairs, and out to the main room. As he was deciding where to put the box, a young camper burst through the door. It was the boy Chiron had chosen to check on the sleeping demigods and warn him if they woke up. In between breaths he said, "Chiron! Its Percy and Annabeth, they're awake!"

All his emotions from before came back in a rush, and in a haste he dropped the box onto the table and hurried out to find them, to spare them any embarrassment and attention from other campers. He trotted past Nico, who tried to stop him, but Chiron shooed him off; making sure Annabeth and Percy were okay was his first priority right now.

Nico huffed and strode into the Big House. He was looking for Will, who although normally wasn't up this early had said he had an important job to do that morning. It was well past the time he said he would meet Nico, so as a last resort he checked the interior of the Big House just in case he was in there.

He was greeted by the sight of the glittering golden box, left in a haste by Chiron. Fueled by pure curiosity, and with the knowledge that what he was doing was idiotic, he walked over to it and examined it. Suddenly something within the box made a noise, and he jumped back.

With tense nerves, he reached out to touch it, sliding his hand over the engraved surface. He could sense a presence within it, which was most unusual, and he felt compelled to open it and see what it was.

After minimal difficulty opening the latch, he flipped the top open to reveal the source of the noise. It was a beautiful shining gem that glittered pure, soft amber. Taken aback for a moment at the brilliance of the object, he reached out to touch it, when he heard it.

Voices, like the whispers of ghosts that he could sometimes hear, filled his head. It sounded like the stone contained innumerable spirits, all compelling him to reach out and touch it. Suddenly he heard a voice become clearer than all the others, a voice that made him choke back tears. _Bianca,_ he thought silently, as her voice distanced itself from the others.

 _Bring me back,_ the voice whispered to him as his hands started to shake. _Nico you can bring me back, and we can be together again,_ she said. The words cut deep into his heart, and it took all his willpower to stop himself from reaching out the last few centimeters and touching the gem. Then he thought to himself over all the other voices, why was he hesitating? All he had to do was reach out a little more and he could bring back Bianca.

Not once did it occur to him _how_ he would bring Bianca back, or why the voices knew exactly how to get to him, all reason seemed to have left him in his fixation. But the moment he resigned himself to their murmurs, the screen door crashed behind him. His hand twitched forward, but a loud shout jolted himself out of his trance.

"NICO! NO!" It was Chiron, with an exhausted looking Percy and Annabeth in tow. He leapt forward and knocked Nico off his feet. As he fell in an awkward sprawl to the floor, Chiron snapped the lid on the box shut.

"Nico, what were you thinking? Don't you know not to go poking around with stuff like this?" he said angrily, as Nico struggled to get up. He felt as if he had been woken up from a long sleep; tired and fuzzy. "I-I'm sorry,' he stuttered out, turning red under Percy and Annabeth's bewildered stares.

"I was just looking for-"he stopped himself and turned even redder, "Will," he finished quietly. Chiron grimaced and extended a hand in Nico's direction. "I'm sorry Nico, it's been a long morning," he grimaced while pulling Nico to his feet. "Just promise me you will _never_ go near this box again." He said sternly, his pointed glare dissolving into an expression of tiredness.

"Go, I'll talk to you later," he sighed. "You'll find Will at the stables, I passed him earlier." Nico walked out with a nod, unanswered questions swirling through his head. With a quick look back, he set off determinedly for the stables.

A/N

so here it is, the new first chapter. hopefully it gives you some new insight on Nico, Percy, and Annabeth. thanks for all the support, and expect chapter 2 very soon.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Thoughts

Percy lay on his bead, his head resting comfortably on his pillow as his eyes stared into the ceiling, but he wasn't really looking, he was thinking. Specifically about that morning. After an endless talk with Chiron and Annabeth, and a late breakfast, he was already exhausted. He needed to collect himself and sort through his emotions, in a way that wouldn't cause another meltdown like that morning.

Talking had really helped, even though it was tough and embarrassing to talk about his nightmares to Chiron. It helped that Annabeth was there too. What Chiron had told them though, that was the part that he wanted to reflect on and sort through.

So he went back to the beginning and replayed the memories of the talk.  
It had started with them telling Chiron their recurring nightmares and sleepless nights. That spiraling into the daily stress, flashbacks, and overwhelming emotions they sometimes experienced. After pouring out every agonizing detail about what they had been silently enduring for the past two months, Chiron sat back and thought for a moment before finally speaking.

He told them that what they were experiencing was very common among other campers, specifically younger ones and ones who had lost friends. He told them that he was sorry for them, that they were too young to carry these emotional burdens, too young to be involved in any of this. For a few moments, Percy thought he saw the ghosts of tears in the camp director's eyes.

The next part had been the worst; he spoke with each of them individually. Percy didn't want to leave Annabeth's support, but he knew he had to face his problems. This was the hardest and most complicated for Percy to recall, he didn't want to think about what Chiron had said, he wanted to pretend there was a better solution to his problems. But he forced himself to relay it back, word for word, to really face what he had been told. _Percy, I wanted to talk to you alone, because this part is very personal._

Percy had nodded, waiting for his next words.

 _At your age, what you're dealing with is not normal, and your body and mind can't handle the stress of something so catastrophic. I'd say that what you and Annabeth are experiencing is shock, and possibly PTSD, but there are some other parts that are a bit more complicated. For one thing, those dreams of Tartarus don't seem like shock memories, because they recur so often. This is only a guess, but I'd have to say that those dreams are being sent by the lord of the pit himself, as retribution for escaping._

 _And I wouldn't say that's the worst of it either,_ he continued _, I think these dreams are a warning, a sign that Tartarus is seeking revenge. You may not have realized it, but he is preying on your fatal flaw. Those dreams of battle, those flashbacks, are taunting you where you are most vulnerable. He wants to weaken you, to degrade everything that you worked towards._

Percy thought about what this meant. It was true, the more he thought about it, his dreams were always targeting him where he felt the weakest and the guiltiest. Maybe it wasn't as simple as post war shock, maybe it was all intentional.

In a strange way, this almost made him feel the slightest bit better, because it meant that he wasn't doing this to himself, his torment was coming from somewhere, _someone_ , and that meant he could stop it. _  
_He continued the conversation in his head. _I know it might not mean much to you right now, but you have to trust me when I say this. You did everything you could have done. You saved the world from doomsday twice, you fought against creatures that even the gods fear. You are one of the most powerful demigods of all time. Everything we and the rest of humanity had ever worked for would have been destroyed if it weren't for you and the others._

 _But this is the most important part Percy, no matter how hard you try, no matter how great you are, you cannot always save everyone. In battles like these, there will always be casualties. But these were not in vain. You prevented dozens of deaths with your skills, but you cannot be everywhere all at once. Those campers died defending the world they loved. We will remember them with honor._

Percy felt tears sting his eyes. _You are an amazing demigod, Percy. You have been through so much, and I hate to see you in this state. I think it would be for the best if you took some time away; maybe spent some time with your mother and Paul, or tried going back to school with Annabeth. Anything to detach yourself from this, to give you a break. The camp will be fine without you,_ he said, noticing the protest Percy was working up, _do not protest, you have earned a break. Tomorrow, ill arrange transport for you and keep an eye out for anything in your area. Don't worry about being on guard for monsters, I'll have someone keep watch for you. Sort through your emotions, and see if it helps.  
_ So here he was, half an hour later and still feeling awful. While trying to sort through some of the dreams to see what meaning they held, like Chiron had suggested, he had a weighing feeling that these nightmares and flashbacks would plague him for a long, long time. He felt like he couldn't carry on; like there was an empty space in his head that should have been filled with purpose, but was instead filled with confusion and sadness. _If only it was as easy as taking a break,_ he thought. But he knew, deep down inside, that there was something in him that was gone, and he would never be the same again.

And what about his mother? Chiron had said that he had filled Sally and Paul in on the major details, but had left the personal stuff for Percy to explain. He felt another wave of guilt as he remembered how he had neglected his calls home, the must be worried sick about him. It would be so hard though, so hard to relay all the details to them and see the expressions on their faces. Really, it just made him sad, to think about how his mom would react to his trip to the underworld.

Chiron had said that he would post a guard for Percy, and that give him mixed emotions. He would never really completely let his guard down, probably for the rest of his life. Certainly not after recent events. More small waves of guilt hit him as he realized these other demigods might have to fight off monsters just so he could have a break. He remembered internally scowling when Chiron had mentioned his greatness. _I would rather be a normal mortal than have all the power I have now_ , he thought. _It's not a privilege, it's a curse._

He resigned himself to the fact that he would have to at least attempt Chiron's plan, even with his many doubts. With a sigh he swung his legs over the side of the bed and packed his few belongings, before setting out for dinner.

The large crescent moon cast a shadow across the grounds of the camp, as everything lay still. He moved quickly, quietly, as if he was one with the shadows. His dark clothes kept him hidden even more, and after all his shadow traveling practice, he practically felt like a shadow as he stealthily crept across the lawn and up the steps of the Big House. Sure that what he sought lay within, he slid the door open silently and entered the threshold with bated breath.

Doubts crept into his mind, but he dismissed them, thinking that he would find what he was looking for, investigate it, and leave without anyone noticing him. He had hours before anyone would set foot near him.

There it was, pushed aside where Chiron had set it earlier that day. Nico hesitated for a second, remembering his first encounter with the stone, and Chiron. He had never seen the camp director so angry before, but he had never been so entranced a curious about something before either. His curiosity won out, whether that was good or bad, and he set his fears aside before slowly opening the box. The soft amber glow reached his widening eyes as he stared into its glowing depths and voices filled his mind.

She was there again, Bianca. Her voice rang loud and clear, urging him to touch it, to bring her back. This time, Nico had no hesitation. With a small smile, he remembered all his dreams of bringing her back just to talk and be with her again, like it should have been. He could have someone to talk to and trust again, someone to give him advice about Will even….

His hand touched the surprisingly cool surface, and chaos exploded in his body. A burning, searing sensation ran through his body like fire, and his vision went dark. The voice of his sister suddenly changed into a harsh, evil laugh that terrified him to the core. He screamed and vaguely felt the sensation of falling, of his head hitting the floor, and then his senses faded, and everything was black.

 **A/N**

 **Here's the new and improved second chapter! I'm going to delete the original later, but if you want a reference point of what I changed, feel free to go check it out before it gets deleted. Also sorry about the weird layout with the new chapters, hopefully I'll get back to where I left off soon.**

 **Just a side note, I'm going to try to stay away from writing anything too angst-y, and I'm also going to be staying away from writing about depression/PTSD because I haven't experienced those, so I don't want to miss-portray them or offend anyone who does have it. This will probably be the angsti-est chapter I write.**

 **Thanks for the feedback! Reviews are really appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Guilt and More Confusion

Percy awoke sharply to the sound of yelling and commotion. Glancing at his clock and then at the window, he confirmed that it was only about seven AM. Groaning, he sat up and threw on some clothes before sticking his head out of his cabin to see what the uproar was about. There was a small crowd gathered at the entrance to the Big House, but he couldn't tell why. His field of vison was blocked by another cabin, so he took a tentative step forward, then another, until he could see who was making all the noise. He noticed other campers, like himself, who had emerged to investigate the clamor.

Suddenly the crowd parted, and he saw two figures race out onto the lawn. Curious, he jogged over and joined the rest of the campers who had formed a semi-circle around the two.

The figures turned out to be, to his surprise, Chiron and Will. Will was blushing with anger and embarrassment at being stared at, and Chiron was in a furious frenzy, yelling at him. Will had drawn his dagger, which he rarely used, and was gesturing about with it. Then Percy finally caught wind of what they were saying.

"You can't stop me! I'm going to find him, and no stupid prophecy will get in my way!" Will shouted, turning redder by the minute. Percy had never seen him this angry before, he had always seen Will as a quieter demigod, not one to draw attention to himself. Chiron stomped one of his hooves. "Get back inside and stop making a scene!" he said angrily. "You have no idea what you're rushing into!"

Suddenly Percy felt a hand touch his shoulder. He jumped and spun around, where Annabeth was standing, looking startled. She looked like him, slight bedhead and rumpled clothes, but then again so did everyone else. "Annabeth what in hades is going on here?" he asked. She frowned and came closer. "I asked around, and apparently Nico went missing sometime last night. Chiron found a box that he had hidden away out in the open, with the lid opened and Nico's sword on the ground next to it."

Percy was still confused. "Well what that has got to do with Will?" he questioned. "Apparently," Annabeth answered, "apparently after Chiron talked to him, he thought it was his fault. Remember yesterday, when we saw Nico with the stone?" Percy nodded. "Will thinks he should have warned him against going back to it, and then Chiron apparently told will afterward what the stone was, and that there was a high chance Nico was dead." She gestured towards the scene on the lawn, looking grim. "And that's when he went livid." She frowned, and Percy turned back to the scene.

 _If I hadn't caused a scene yesterday then maybe Nico wouldn't have gotten into this situation,_ he thought grimly. _If my damn emotions hadn't gotten in my way maybe I could have helped_ , he added bitterly.

Several of Will's friends had jumped in to try and get to him. They argued for a moment, but then Will pushed past them and stalked away, toward the dirt road that led out of camp. "Will!" Chiron yelled a last time, desperately trying to get him to listen.

Watching the receding figure of Will, Percy put his hand into his pocket and felt the familiarity of Riptide there. _Maybe I can still help..._ he thought.

He thought about Nico, and the realization that there was a high chance that he was dead, even though Will persisted that he was alive. Nico, son of Hades. The young demigod who loved Mythomagic and his sister. The almost unrecognizable person he had become because of the war. So lonely, for so long, with no one to turn to. Alone, until he met Will. Percy was about as perceptible to relationships as a brick, so he didn't notice at first when Nico and Will had started hanging out more. He supposed they were just friends, but maybe there was more to that. He could see now, putting the puzzle pieces together, why Will was so desperate to find him.

But maybe, what if Nico _was_ alive. What if Will was putting himself in danger for nothing; what if he got himself killed _, and Nico was still out there._

Percy felt like he owed Nico too much to let that happen. He felt rash, his emotions were completely out of control. Shoving aside all the grief and worry, he fished Riptide out of his pocket and gently made his way through the dispersing crowd. Will's friends were arguing with Chiron, like they wanted to go after him. Heads turned in Percy's direction as he stumbled into the open area.

Chiron's eyes found his, and seeing the determination in Percy's eyes, hurriedly dashed over. "Percy," he said firmly, "Not you too. I can't have you making rash decisions and putting yourself in danger!" Percy's anger flared inside him. "I'm capable of making my own decisions," he said angrily, and, feeling all the pent up emotions becoming jumbled up into an untangle-able mess, he said flatly, "I can take care of myself, let me help Will." He took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from exploding, "I owe Nico, and I won't sit by while he is in trouble. If he is alive, then I'll find him." Chiron looked more livid then Percy had ever seen him.

"This time Percy, you are outgunned, trust me on this. Just calm down and-"Percy cut him off with a "No!" because Chiron just didn't _get_ it. He couldn't just snap his fingers and be calm, he was feeling so messed up inside that he was about to blow if he didn't do something about it. Action was what he needed, he needed to distract himself, or better yet, do something constructive, helpful, and useful.

His problems ran deeper then Chiron could imagine. No matter what good it would do for him, he didn't _want_ to be pent up in a house, doing normal stuff and pretending his experience, _the war_ had never happened. He had to help, to take action, to be useful. He felt such a personal responsibility to help that it was almost overwhelming, and couldn't Chiron seethat?

Then the shocking realization hit him. Before the war, he would have given anything to lead a normal life. He just wanted to be a teenager again, and he was looking forward to (if he lived) a life with Annabeth. But now something was different. The emptiness and differentness he felt as he lie awake in bed all those nights suddenly made sense. He had lost that sense of regularity and had given up on the possibility of ever returning to a normal life. All his teenage years had revolved around war, and now, he realized sickeningly, he had gotten used to it. Used to the constant battles, the constant purpose, the constant working towards a goal.

A life with Annabeth still sounded great to him, but what would happen if, he dare say it, they were left alone? Would they buy a house? Move to New Rome? What if they didn't even end up together, after everything?

He was floating through these past few months without a purpose. It made perfect sense to him now why he had readily jumped at the occasion to help on the search for Nico. Perfect, horrifying sense.

 _He couldn't find his purpose without war._

The sense of uselessness, the feeling of confusion and nagging whenever he was alone, the lack of purpose, all were a result of him finally living an almost "normal" demigod life. And what scared him the most was how desperate he was to change that.

He lowered his now shaking hand and took a step back from Chiron. "I-Chiron you know I can't let him go," he said in a softer tone. Chiron could see the battle in his eyes, and though he tried to hide it, the helplessness. "Don't do this, Percy," he said sadly, "let me talk to him, and then we can discuss your arrangement to go home."

Several hours later, with an almost empty backpack slung over his shoulder, he stepped out of the Poseidon cabin feeling more lost and useless than ever before. He passed Will, who was stalking back to his cabin with an angry frown plastered on his face. He thought about saying something, but couldn't figure out what.

He made it to the edge of the Camp and turned to give a final hug to a concerned Annabeth, who gave him a quick "I'll see you soon," before he stepped out into the road and reluctantly headed out to his awaiting future.

 **A/N thanks for the support as i continue the re-write! reviews are really appreciated**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Empousai!

 _My name is Percy Jackson, son of the great god Poseidon, and I'm more confused than I've ever been before._ Percy thought to himself as he crisscrossed the abandoned streets of New York. It was now officially three days since he left, and already he had broken his flimsy resolution to try harder to fix his emotions.

He managed to make it two whole days before his mom coaxed an explanation out of him. She was only concerned, Percy knew, but it was still agonizing to see the fear and sadness on her face while he told of everything that had happened. Paul was away visiting some friends, but was home earlier that afternoon, so Percy gave him a watered down explanation then. So far, he had avoided any breakdowns, and had even managed to keep a less fitful sleep than usual. It was concerning to him though, his usual raging tide of emotions and confusion had fallen into a slum; that is to say, he felt almost nothing. Numb, like he had reconciled himself to the fact that he would never pull himself together, never be the same person. He saw how much he had changed by the way his mom looked at him, well, _differently._ Like she was constantly pitying him. To him, this was the worst, because he couldn't do anything to console her. He _had_ changed, he was so much older, had seen so much more, had almost died too many times to not have changed.

His lack of purpose ate away at his being until he couldn't take another second. He needed air, he needed to _move_. So, pulling on a dark sweatshirt, he set out onto the streets and wandered around for a few hours, thinking some spark of inspiration would come to him and snap him out of his detachment. Rounding a corner, he passed a deserted ally and heard a small shuffle come from behind him.

Instinctively, he whipped around and tensed up. He was slightly on edge, it being well past ten and him being so alone. He could take care of himself, that was for sure, but you never knew who you were going to encounter in New York this late at night. It turned out to be a man, similarly clad in a dark sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. Another figure appeared beside him, and from its slender form Percy guessed it was a woman. The man was big and imposing, and very physically fit from the outline Percy could see. What really got his adrenaline going though, was that he carried a long, slender object by his side, but Percy couldn't see what it was. _A gun?_ He questioned instantly.

He couldn't make out much of the woman though, as she was walking behind the man. Ducking his head down, he took longer, swifter strides, trying to reach the next corner, which would take him into a confusing ally of restaurants and shops, which was a lot safer than a dark, narrow side street. _Alright, that's enough adventure for one day,_ he thought nervously.

Then things got even weirder. The pair behind him lengthened their strides too, and quickly came up right behind him. Percy ducked quickly up some stairs like he was heading home, his breath caught in his throat. As the two passed, the man called out quietly, "you shouldn't be out this late, kid," before turning the corner and leaving Percy's eyesight.

Curiosity killed the cat, they say, and after Percy saw what the man was holding, his curiosity skyrocketed. _It was a long, slender bow._ With purpose, he swung himself off the set of steps he was on and quietly trotted to the corner of the street, slowing when he heard voices. It was the man and a woman, whispering furiously to each other. Cautiously, Percy ducked behind a large potted plant and listened.

"I take the left, you get behind those tables," the woman whispered. "But what if she makes a run for it?" the man countered quickly, taking a glance at the deserted street that lay before them, "if she turns and runs, down that street, we've lost her," he gestured to the opposite street, which was the one full of shops and restaurants.

Now Percy was really scared and intrigued. Grabbing Riptide and praying he wouldn't have to use it, he contemplated what they might be discussing. With the limited but ominous conversation he heard, he couldn't think of a way this would end positively. Suddenly the woman spoke again.

" _Shit,_ here they come now," she said exasperatedly. "Fine, I'll take those buses, you stay around this corner and get her if she runs, but don't hit any buildings."

Percy didn't even hear his reply, he was too terrified. He had seconds to decide where to go before _the man turned and saw him!_ Glancing around, he dashed back to the staircase he had walked up earlier, and crouched behind the cement, holding his breath. _Oh gods please don't let them see me,_ he thought, terrifyingly imaging what would happen if they caught him. He didn't have the best vantage point, considering he couldn't see anything that wasn't directly in front of him, so he waited tensely for the man to be distracted enough that he could leap out and run.

Sound met his ears, and he listened intently. Suddenly, a terrible thought struck him. _What if they are trying to kidnap someone!?_ He thought wildly, fear intensifying. He tried to work out a strategy, but was too stressed to think of anything, so he decided to wait for the right moment.

Although he would never have been able to hear the conversation during the day, the utterly silent street allowed him to hear the faint conversing of two people as (he guessed) they turned to walk up the street.

"Yea, uh, my place is just up the street," a man said. Percy noticed a slight nervousness to his voice, which made him even more suspicious. Then a woman spoke, and Percy was hit with sudden recognition. "Great!" she answered smoothly, then, "it's been _amazing_ with you tonight," she added silkily. Percy annoying couldn't place the voice, even though it was on the tip of his tongue. He also noticed that the voiced had stopped getting louder, indicating that they had stopped in the street. He tensed tighter than a coiled spring, and readied himself to jump into action.

"Yea," the man said with a small cough, "really great." He sounded even more nervous, and Percy was growing furious with his lack of vision.

Silence, then, "oh, uh, you're going to kiss me now?" Percy couldn't decide if it was a question or a statement, but he could tell something was about to happen. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out through the night, startling Percy so hard he leapt up, sword drawn, and stood shaking with adrenaline on the street before he had even realized what he was doing.

He heard another BANG, and someone, (the man?) yelled something incoherent. Percy saw the man with the bow tense and pull back the string, ready to fire, as another gunshot rang out. Then Percy knew _exactly_ where that voice came from. "Did you _really_ think that would work?" the woman laughed a sickening laugh, which made Percy freeze. _Kelli?_ He thought shockingly, giving up all hope of staying hidden and racing out to get a better view.

How in _Hades_ had she ended up here? _These damn empousai just won't stay dead,_ he thought angrily. Rounding the corner, he faced the street in shock. He registered the man with the bow say something like, "what the hell kid?" before Kelli saw him, spotlighted under the only streetlamp on the road.

She was leaning over the man, about to kill him, as bullets passed through her harmlessly. Suddenly a red haired woman jumped out from behind the bushes parallel to her and rammed her over, catching her by surprise. The man with the bow stood up and cursed, as he raced out to help. Percy realized the empousai had revealed her true form, altering from a young woman into a hideous monster with flaming hair and vampire like teeth.

With her superior empousai strength, she pinned the red haired woman down as Percy raced toward her. The man with the bow fired an arrow at her, which didn't do much but cause a quick distraction. Percy realized that the two of them were too far away to help in time, Kelli was already renewing her attack on the woman. They struggled for a minute as the man dropped his bow and raced towards them, but it would be too late, and Percy had finally gathered his wits enough to form a plan.

Yelling, trying to distract her, he felt for the nearest source of water, which turned out to be a water main in the street, about a yard from the empousai. He cringed at the consequences that his actions would surely cause, but went through with it anyways, causing the water to erupt out of the ground and hit Kelli with a vicious burst. She rolled away, soaking wet, as Percy tried to keep up the current, drawing water from the pipes and pushing her into the middle of the street.

When the water had gone, he was within striking distance, but Kelli had recovered. Standing over the unconscious form of the man she was walking with, she faced Percy with a wild grin on her face. "Finally, someone worthy I can fight," she giggled.

Percy launched himself at her, Riptide slashing at her torso. She leapt back and tried to draw his attention with her hypnotic glare, but Percy powered through it and slashed again. Kelli was at a severe advantage, without a weapon, and she knew it. So she used the only weapon at her disposal and turned up the hypnotizing charmspeak, enticing him to lower his weapon.

It was too late for her though, Percy yelled and jabbed at her, sending her jumping backwards and toppling over the man she had been with. She landed hard on the pavement, and for a second, Percy thought it was enough to knock her out. He leaned over and got ready to give the final strike, but he was caught off balance as she suddenly grabbed his shirt and pulled him forward. He let out a startled gasp as he fell face first and knocked Riptide out of his hands.

Landing painfully, he tried to shake off the black spots that danced in front of his vision. He saw Kelli kick Riptide aside, and lean over him, ready to bite. He tried to shove her off him, but he was too disoriented.

He felt awful, in those few seconds, for his mom and Annabeth. After all he had been though, he was going to die alone, in the dark, on a deserted street, by some damn empousai that _just won't stay dead_ , he though. Giving another, stronger shove, he tried to roll away from her, but he was stuck.

Her face leered over his for a second, triumph in her eyes, then she closed the gap between them and….dissolved into dust? Percy gasped as golden monster dust coated his face and settled all around him. The man from the alley stood above him, brandishing Riptide with a look of complete shock on his face.

"Holy crap," he whispered, locking eyes with Percy. He offered a hand to him, and Percy took it gratefully, swinging himself to his feet and brushing the dust off him. He could clearly see his rescuer now, his hood had fallen away to reveal short blonde hair, and a square-ish face. "Well that was…unexpected," he said with a surprised chuckle. He was covered in a slight mist of water, it seemed everyone but he had gotten wet.

He eyed Riptide, looked at Percy carefully, and then handed it cautiously to him. He turned to the red haired woman, who was soaking wet but slowly getting up. "I've seen a lot of weird things, and I mean _a lot_ ," she said, shaking her wet hair, "but seriously? A vampire woman? That definitely takes the cake," she finished with a small smile.

The blonde guy ran a hand through his short hair and turned to look for his bow. "Alright kid, you've got a lot of explaining to do," he muttered to Percy. Still recovering from his near death experience, Percy suddenly became aware of what he had just done, and he figured he had to get the heck out of there _now_. He looked around furtively for an escape route and noticed the first guy, lying on the ground and looking really pale, and soaking wet. He had a funny looking beard, and dark black hair. Blood had dried on his neck, near two puncture wounds. Oddly, Percy also noticed a faint blue light coming from his chest.

Although his first instinct was to help, he had already revealed too much, and he wasn't so sure he could take these people if they tried to question him. Growing ever more nervous, he started backing down the dark street, ready to turn and sprint at a moment's notice. The pair caught on quickly to his plans, and before Percy could run, the red haired woman had collected her gun and was pointing it at him.

"Sorry kid, but we can't just let you go," she said with a bit more authority in her voice. Keeping the gun trained on him, she glanced to the blond haired guy, who was leaning over the unconscious one. Suddenly he sputtered awake, letting out a gasp and spitting out water.

"Now, someone _please_ tell me why I volunteered to be the bait in this set-up," he said exasperatedly. The red haired woman rolled her eyes. "I said "hot vampire" and you practically jumped at the job," she said with a chuckle. "This one's all on you Stark," the blonde haired man said, helping the other one up.

Percy felt a twinge of recognition. Hold on, did she say _Stark?_ As in Tony Stark, AKA Iron man? Percy glanced behind him and saw the silhouette of the now under construction Stark tower. He glanced back apprehensively, and gave a closer look at the other two. All of a sudden, the pieces came together, and he actually took a step back in surprise. How could he have been so stupid?

Recalling the newspaper that had been passed around at camp, and the information from Chiron, he remembered the alien invasion like it was yesterday. The camp had gone completely insane, spreading rumors that the gods had called an emergency council. _Then_ people started saying it wasn't aliens, but some monster from the underworld, and now they were all in jeopardy. That's when Chiron had to step in and quell all the rumors. Most of it was just lies, how could mortals defeat monsters from the underworld?

What bothered him the most was when someone brought information from some distant relative that worked at SHIELD that there was an Asgardian involved (no one had any idea what an Asgardian was, but there were rumors that they were _gods_ ). This set off so much craziness that Chiron practically locked everyone inside the camp until gossip had died down. Annabeth left for a few days after that, giving him a quick explanation that she needed to see her cousin.

Percy pushed all those thoughts down, figuring he would deal with them later, and brought himself back to the shock at hand. He was certain now that he was standing in front of half of the Avengers, specifically Black Widow, Hawkeye, and _Iron Man._

He was totally freaking out now. How in _Hades_ did he manage to put himself in these situations? Oh gods, now they were approaching him. Weapons gathered, (but still soaking wet) they advanced until they were a couple feet in front of him. Percy had capped Riptide, and the woman (he didn't know her name other than Black Widow) lowered the gun, but kept it by her side, un-holstered. After a couple seconds of silence, where Percy was completely frozen and had no idea what to say, Tony Stark cleared his voice and spoke.

"Well," he said uncertainly, "what the hell was that?" Black Widow rolled her eyes and tucked the gun away. "What my… _associate,_ means is, there is definitely something up with you kid, so why don't you help us out. How about we start with names? I'm Natasha, this in Clint," she said, gesturing to Hawkeye, "and that's-"she was cut off suddenly by Stark.

"Tony Stark, billionaire, philanthropist-"

"Stark, shut up," she said quickly, growing irritated again. "I'm sure he's heard of us-"he managed to get in before she sent him a death-glare.

"Well, now that you know us, why don't you tell us who you are?" She gave him a friendlier look, but Percy saw right past it. He felt like a cornered animal, tense with fear that he would be arrested if he didn't comply. Looking at his options, he didn't think he had much of a choice but to give them his name. Maybe if he played the scared kid card, he would be allowed to leave. Uncertainly, he decided to give them his name, but he was scared of how far they could track him if they knew even his name.

"Name's Percy," he said timidly, testing out the scared kid game. "Just Percy?" she asked tentatively. "Yeah," he said carefully, "Percy Jackson," he added as an afterthought.

Realizing his error, his internal fear spiked again, and he almost fainted in panic. _Oh gods, even if they look up my name they'll see everything I've done, where I live, who my mom is,_ he thought, remembering the titan war and all his cross country disasters, not to mention his rocky school records and the Gabe incident. Even a little digging would reveal that he was in all ways, a weird teenager. And he was dealing with _super spies_ which meant he had to be super careful from here on out.

Composing himself, he just caught Natasha's next question. "So what were you doing out so late by yourself, Percy," she asked coolly.

"Just out for a walk," he answered shortly. "Okay," she continued, "now here's where I need you to answer honestly," She looked pointedly at him, "why, of all things, were you carrying a sword?"

Percy gave up on his act and hope that somehow the mist would conceal his sword. He neglected to answer, and decided to see how they would react. After a minute of silence, it was finally Clint who answered. "Look kid-I mean Percy, I'm really grateful for your help, but right now I'm also seriously considering taking you to the police station, so you should probably answer," he said seriously. That's when Percy decided he had better get the _heck out of there._ He also realized they were doing the "good cop, bad cop" thing, but already, like him, they had seemed to give it up. He realized they were probably figuring he was dangerous and possibly a criminal, not just some kid who helped out.

He tensed ever so slightly, and then found an opening. When Stark started to speak, Natasha shot him a glance, and in that split second, while she was distracted, he turned and ran. Gunshots sounded behind him, and he started weaving and running sporadically. He heard someone yell, and suddenly he was running faster and with more adrenaline then he ever had in his life. If he could just make it to the corner, he would be able to escape. Then he could deal with the consequences of giving them his name.

BANG! BANG! Gunshots sounded even closer to him, and he risked a quick glance behind him. This was all it took though, and in a split second, another gunshot rang out, and this time it hit home.

BAM. The bullet tore through his upper right shoulder, sending him off his feet and knocking him to the pavement. He cried out in surprise and hit the ground, hard. Sickeningly dizzy and already in intense pain, the adrenaline slowly leaked out of him until his fell fully unconscious. The last thing he saw was the three Avengers gathered around him.

 **A/N wow I feel really great, two updates in three days! Hope you like this one, its super long but I like how it went. ALSO this is the official start of major changes to this story, so im going to be deleting the old chapters and continuing from here (same story though, don't worry)**

 **COMMENTS/REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED (even negative ones, if you have a problem you would like to point out, criticism was what drove me to improve the story)**

 **THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Trouble

"It's okay, Mrs. Jackson, Annabeth and several others are out looking for him right now. You know him, always wandering off. I'm sure he'll be okay." Chiron sighed and continued shuffling through papers while he talked to anxious Sally Jackson on the phone. He cringed a bit more every minute he talked, he could tell he was sending out a giant signal to all monsters in the vicinity that there were demigods here. He could only hope that the sentries he had placed would be able to warn the older campers in time to launch an attack depending on if a monster came.

Aside from impending monster attacks, he had a few other large problems to deal with, and they all came from one source; Percy. He couldn't believe his luck, only three days after Percy had left to visit his mom, he had vanished. This caused him great panic, when Sally first called him to report that Percy hadn't come back from a walk he had taken the day before.

He was worried and angry. Worried that anything could have happened, and they'd never know, and angry at himself for not paying closer attention to what Percy was feeling and acting. Dark thoughts crept up on him as he considered grim answers to the current situation. He had known that Percy was experiencing some emotional turmoil, so he sent him away for a slight break and change of scenery, but maybe the problems were deeper than that.

 _Pain._

 _Darkness._

 _Where am I?_

 _Am I alive?_

He tried opening his eyes. _Hurts._ All he saw was a dark greyness beyond him, stark and cold. _Ugh, I hurt too much to be dead_. He thought, aggravated. He tried to clear his eyes, but all that he could see was grey. Wait, no that was a wall. His senses cleared up a bit, and the buzzing in his ears died down a bit. Trying to gather himself, he lay for a while, focusing on remaining conscious.

He felt a springy cot beneath him, but he mostly felt soreness coming from his right shoulder, and upon shifting around a bit, felt coarse bandages wrapped around his injured shoulder and part of his torso. Each twinge in movement caused his shoulder to ache, but he had felt worse. Besides, he seemed to be more mobile with every effort. He slowly lifted he left hand and touched his right shoulder gently, trying to get a feeling of how bad he was hurt.

His foggy brain cleared up a bit as he examined it, and he groaned quietly, sinking his head into the thin pillow as he remembered what had happened. He closed his eyes and rested his arm back by his side, realizing the reason he was hurt was because he had been _shot_. Oddly, it seemed like the bullet hadn't made contact with bone or caused any serious damage, even though it had the potential to. He could tell by the dull ache that it must have been removed, which was also a bit suspicious. Though he didn't have time to ponder that right now. He had to figure out where in hades he was.

He clenched his jaw and tried to sit up, attempting to observe his surroundings. That's when a wave of nausea hit him. He almost lost consciousness again as his head pounded with intensity, blocking out rational thought and his sense. He exhaled and tried to pull himself together.

He lay there for a few more minutes, waiting until the pounding subsided to a dull ache like his shoulder, and gently moved upright. Grimacing at the pain (most likely a hard concussion), he gripped the sides of the small cot and tried to focus on what was around him.

He was in a small, about fifteen by fifteen foot room, which was stark grey. Nothing adorned the walls, and there was no furniture other than his cot and a sink, which was affixed to the opposite wall. Eyes widening, he saw that the wall to the left of his cot was a set of heavy metal bars.

 _Oh gods, am I in jail?_ He thought despondently. _Oh please don't let this be jail,_ he hoped quietly. But all that hope faded when he saw two guards standing on either side of the room (cell, he realized). They both wore earpieces and carried heavy guns, barely flinching when he got up slowly and tried a steady step forward.

He held back the pain in his head and shoulder, and realized that oddly, he was still in his clothes from the night before, minus his sweatshirt. His jeans were dirty and ripped at the knee, but his orange camp tee shirt looked fine.

Oh gods.

His _camp_ tee shirt.

The one that clearly and distinctly stated, _Camp Half Blood, Long Island Sound._

With a _Pegasus_ under it.

He was a complete idiot.

Trying to calm himself down, he told himself that no one would know what his shirt meant, that they (whoever _they_ was) probably thought it was some sort of outdoor summer camp. Silently cursing whoever designed these shirts to say the _location_ of the camp, he took another unsteady step forward, trying to get a better view of his situation.

Yea, there was no denying it; he was in some sort of prison. He immediately went into survival mode, his mind beginning to calculate ways he could escape, but they all involved at least two things; Riptide, and water. _The sink,_ he thought quickly, striding a bit more steadily to the small faucet. He turned the handle eagerly, but nothing came out. This stumped him for a second, and he tried the other knob, but to no avail. Completely dry.

Catching a movement in the corner of his eye, he turned to one of the heavily armed guards that stood outside. They made eye contact, and the man's cold glare surprised him for a second, before the man averted he gaze. Percy had been known for a pretty intense glare, which he had unknowingly unleashed on the man.

Percy caught him say something into a radio, but it was too muffled for him to make it out. He leaned back on the faucet and looked around, suddenly noticing some objects near the cot. It was his sweatshirt, folded up, and a plate with some food on it. There was no water, and Percy immediately felt more suspicious. _How much did these people know about him?_

After a quick meal that consisted of a large peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he was hit with a sudden spark of inspiration. Glancing at the guards, he set the plate down gently, pulled his sweatshirt on, and lay down on the cot. Noticing that he had been previously sleeping on top of a thin sheet, he decided to pull that over him too. He rolled away from the guards, facing the stark grey wall. Pretending to be asleep, he lay there for a few minutes, hoping the guards would stop paying close enough attention for him to shift around a bit.

Concealing a smirk, he slowly moved his left hand down towards his pocket, feeling the familiar pen shape that constantly stayed with him. He sighed in relief and pulled it out, looking happily at it. So maybe they didn't know everything about him, and still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Placing Riptide in his sweatshirt pocket for easier access, he closed his eyes and felt around for any source of water.

He felt in the direction of the pipes, and was rewarded with the feeling of small droplets of water that had stayed behind like residue. That meant that he had a) only been there for a short period of time, considering it had not dried up, and b) he now had a small source he could use to heal himself.

These people, he thought, know I'm dangerous, why else would they go to such precautions? But, they don't know everything. If I can get out before they (any of the Avengers from the alley) come and see me, I might be able to get away. All he knew was that he _had_ to get out of there as soon as possible and then get back to camp. Chiron would know what to do from there.

Concentrating hard, he reached out and searched for any signs or traces of water. He was jolted away by a sudden change outside. Suddenly, it was dark. Not pitch black, but all the overhead lights and hallway lights had been turned off. He threw the sheets off, pushing down the pain, and stood up. He took a hasty step towards the bars and shook them gently, but they didn't budge. The guards outside, however did, and a second later some dim hallway lights switched on and Percy got a face full of gun.

"Get back," the man spoke gruffly, his gun only inches from Percy's face. The other guard kept a defensive but apprehensive stance, quickly speaking into his radio. Percy, startled, took a quick step back and let go of the bars. He mustered the courage to speak, but his voice was dryer then he expected, so his words came out scratchy and rough. "What's with the lights?" he cleared his voice quickly. The guard looked reluctant to answer, and glanced at his comrade.

The other one eyed Percy cautiously and put his radio in his pocket. "S'just the curfew," he said, rolling his eyes. "Ten o'clock, lights out," he added.

Percy decided not to answer, because they both turned back around and didn't look like they would answer him if he said anything. Shocked, he sat down and swallowed dryly, realizing how thirsty he was. _That means it's been at least 24 hours, 48 at the most, or I would be practically dying of thirst_ , he thought.

Another anxious pang hit him as he realized the state his mother would be in considering he had practically disappeared overnight and had been away for at least 24 hours. What if she contacted Chiron or tried to go out looking for him herself? He didn't want to place anyone in danger, but begrudgingly he thought that backup would be nice right about now. Unfortunately, he had left virtually zero clues as to where he could be. He felt guilt wash over him as he remembered his halfhearted promise to Chiron that he would try to take a break and have a normal couple of days. That was completely shattered now, just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, with all the wrong people. He lay down again, on top of the sheet, and concentrated on the one thing he could have control over; if he could find it.

He reached out again, and felt the presence of water, but it was just out of his grasp. It was filtered, probably some pipes way below him. _Maybe they have a sprinkler system,_ he thought excitedly. He reached up, this time, feeling for drops left in the pipe, or-rain!

Way above him, father than the pipes, to the point where he could barely feel it, he felt the welcoming presence of rainwater seeping through the soil. He anticipated the surge of energy he would gain, but as he was pulling it down towards him, he felt exhaustion creep over him as his strength waned. Begrudgingly, he let go, and instead felt for the drops left in the pipes connected to the small sink. He pulled them towards him, collecting them into a small, dirty cup of water that pooled out into the basin of the sink. Smiling lightly, he pulled it so it seeped out and ran in a trickle towards him, finally letting it sit right beneath him in a tiny puddle. Turning over, he glanced up at the guards, and reached out tentatively to touch the water.

Instantly, he felt 100% better. His mind cleared and the pain dulled, and after he gained some strength back, he came up with a plan. Easily, he reached out for the rain above him and pulled. Stopping right as it was above him, he thought of how he would get out assuming he was able to take out the guards. It occurred to him that he was underground, considering the water above him and the lack of a window. He couldn't tell how far under he was, but it had to be a manageable distance considering he could reach the water. Glancing out, he saw that nothing but a blank wall sat in front of his cell, but he still didn't have a clue about how many guards were in the complex.

On the other hand, he had been left alone the entire time here, and since it was night, he was assuming no one would be coming to see him any time soon. This gave him hope, because if he could escape before they had a chance to question him, he might be able to get off their radar. This was unlikely, but he would deal with it once he got out.

Pulling Riptide out of his pocket, he got ready to let all hell break loose. Collecting a large amount of water in the space above him, he uncapped the pen and let it grow to its full size beside him, keeping it concealed. Before he was ready to unleash it though, he let a steady trickle fall onto the cot and give him his full strength. He was almost certain that the bullet wound had healed, along with his head. The next part of his plan involved getting the bars open. Hoping to attract the guard's attention, he lay still, with Riptide under him, and let more water in, so that it was like a small storm had gotten into his cell.

Hearing the pitter patter, the guards both turned in unison and looked on in surprise. Grabbing what Percy assumed was a keypad he began to type in a code, but the other guard stopped him and spoke quietly but hurriedly into his radio and yelled something into the cell. "Stop whatever you're doing or I'll shoot," he growled.

Percy was a bit uncertain now, considering he needed the bars to be open before he could escape. Thinking fast, he let the water come crashing down like a waterfall, to the point where it obstructed the guards view. Using it like a shield from the bullets he heard being fired, he dashed to the corner of the bars and fried the control panel. He heard another hail of bullets hit his water-shield, and felt his old confidence and adrenaline fill him up to the point where he was ready for anything.

Now came the real test though, guns verses sword. He shoved against the bars, and they crashed open, hitting someone that Percy hoped was a guard. Shouting followed, and crashing free of his cell and into the pouring indoor rain, Percy sprinted away down a long, dark hallway. He began reaching out above him again, slamming the water down and bringing it crashing on top of him.

He observed the hallway ahead of him, which was the same dull grey as his cell, and lined with a few empty cells and closed black doors. It was about twenty feet long and seven feet wide. Some of the doors closest to him were marked "utility" and "maintenance." This didn't give him a very good idea as to which way he should go, and the water he had brought down was slowing. Although he had pulled enough to fill the entire twenty food hallway with about half an inch of water, he was running out of water to pull. He felt the steady pounding of rain above him slow, and he cursed silently as he looked desperately for a way out.

Turning, he saw the two guards that were stationed in front of his cell stumble to their feet and aim their guns at him. He sprinted past three black doors and wrenched the farthest one open, revealing an even longer stretch of hallway.

He shoved the door behind him closed, and ran to the end, where he turned a sharp corner and almost ran smack into two armed guards. Brandishing his sword (which he realized did absolutely nothing against mortals), he slashed forward in an aggressive move, just to see how they reacted. They seemed surprised but immediately reacted, although before either of them could move very far, he threw his arm over his head, like he was pitching a baseball, and sent all the pooled water over his head in a solid tidal wave. They both hit the ground hard, but even as they tried to get back up Percy was off and springing again.

He turned the next corner, and froze. There were about ten guards in this hallway, and Percy felt a tug of anxiety; his chances at escaping suddenly shrunk to a very small percent. Water slowly gushed out from the door he had exited, and he stood frozen, like a deer in headlights, as the guards shouted and pointed their guns at him. "Put your weapon down and get on the ground NOW!" The soldier nearest Percy shouted. Others were yelling into their radios, requesting backup and reporting the situation.

Startled, and still searching for a way out, Percy slowly lowered his sword to the ground. He realized he had to get out as quickly as possible before he was outnumbered. More of them started shouting at him as he started to raise his hands. Suddenly he noticed the label on a black door to his right. It read "Water maintenance."

Grinning slightly, he lowered his hands and spoke, shocking everyone. "See the thing is, I'm not very good at following directions," he grinned, surprising even himself with the strong confidence in his voice. The same soldier who had shouted at him made a move to speak again, but he was suddenly hit with a more pressing matter, specifically the door to the water maintenance room smashing into him. Chaos erupted, and Percy brought down everything he had. Sprinklers, water pipes, and several large water tanks exploded, ripping holes in the walls and ceiling, and sending high powered jets of water at the remaining soldiers.

He brought out more than planned though, and chunks of ceiling began falling in, landing with large splashes and making the hallway a minefield of concrete, metal, and water. Water continued misting from the sprinklers, and burst pipes spilled their contents, leaving a growing two inches of water on the ground. Percy waded easily past the unconscious soldiers, and surprised himself again with a pang of guilt. These people had no idea what he was capable of, and they were just trying to make sure he wasn't a threat. Of course, there were better ways to do this than shooting him and locking him in a cell, but after the invasion of Manhattan, he knew paranoia was to be expected. He just couldn't put the secrecy of demigods on the line.

The water tinted red as he reached the end of the hallway and opened a white door. He came across an empty room and an elevator near a set of emergency stairs. Seeing the red down arrow light blink, Percy though fast and, remembering his old trick, pushed forward at the control panel, sending a vicious stream of water at it. The circuit shorted out, rendering it useless and stranding the elevator wherever it was, hopefully stopping a large number of reinforcements.

Seeing as the stairs were his only way up, he reluctantly dashed up, leaving the comforting presence of water behind. He patted his pocket, where Riptide had reappeared in pen form. He felt the rain above him finally cease, severely cutting off his supply of water. The lights above him blinked off and on, sending sparks shooting from electrical lines.

 _Get out, get to Mom, get to camp,_ he thought over and over again, trying to keep himself from panicking too much. He sprinted up flight after flight in darkness, with only the pounding of his feet and the splash of sparks to occupy his thoughts.

After several minutes he heard the sound he was dreading, multiple sets of footsteps coming towards him. Panicking, he glanced around for a place to hide, but he hadn't come across an exit in several flights. He glanced around and backed down as the pounding grew closer, and just before he turned and fled he had a fleeting idea. The center of the dark staircase was blocked by a large cinderblock column, no escape there. The walls were pure cinderblock too, and the staircase was only about seven feet wide. There was however, a large air vent window to his right, just high enough up that he could reach up and pull himself in.

Hearing the shouting of voices now mixed with the ominous pounding of footsteps, he used Riptide to quickly pry open the vent and inspect the inside. He couldn't see much besides a small corridor, just big enough for him to fit. He crawled in, and pulled the vent up behind him, locking it back in place with a snap that was drowned out by the approaching soldiers. He held his breath as his heart rate increased, and suddenly he could see them through the small holes in the air vent. They rushed past, about twenty in total. They had heavy guns and looked prepared for anything Percy could ever hope to throw at them.

He cursed in his head as he saw one turn towards him, and scooted back as quietly as possible from the light. Internally his panic increased as he heard them stop and begin talking, saying something he couldn't quite make out into a radio. They were slightly out of breath he noticed, so he must be pretty far from the top. Silence followed as one of the soldiers got a crackling reply on the walkie-talkie, and Percy was about to explode from panic and from holding his breath for so long.

BAM!

Something metal whacked the outside of the vent, and Percy started violently, doing a clumsy and very loud backward roll in the vent, smashing his head on the side in the process. He gasped as he flailed for a grip, and finding only air, tried desperately to hold on to the flat wall. Realizing in his panic that he had tumbled back into a shaft that led only straight down, he held on for dear life as he slowly slipped backwards into the pitch blackness.

Chaos had utterly erupted outside, several smashes brought the vent down and exposed a struggling Percy to the heavily armed soldiers. They began shouting at him, and suddenly he found himself struggling to hold on, and being aimed at by several guns. The radio cracked to life again, and Percy recognized a woman's voice. His head was desperately pounding, making it hard to think, which probably led to his stupid decision.

That is, seeing no way out, he let go.

Now regularity, this would have been a pretty idiotic decision, considering he had no idea how far down he was going to fall or what was at the bottom. In an ideal circumstance, he would have fell a few feet into another duct and gotten the heck out of there, but being Percy Jackson, he never ended up in the ideal circumstance. What actually happened was much worse.

 **A/N I had to end it somewhere, so why not a cliffhanger! I'll update in a different POV very soon though. Thanks for all the reviews and follows! If you have any ideas, feel free to PM me.**

 **REVIEWS KEEP THIS STORY ALIVE!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

If the world could do Natasha Romanoff a favor and stop coming up with impossible people, she would be a lot happier and would have to deal with a lot less paperwork. Also, she wouldn't have been landed with the task of explaining these impossible things to Steve Rogers.

"Are you certain that's what you saw?" Rogers asked for the millionth time. Natasha sighed in exasperation and shoved an open folder in his direction. "Yes, for the thousandth time, I'm certain," she pointed to a large full color photo at the top of the stack of papers inside. "I dug around a little, and turns out we have a whole file on him, with several unsolved cases involving suspicious circumstances." Steve pulled the photo out and compared it to the grainier one lying on the oak table next to him.

She sat back and glanced around idly as Steve compared the pictures and flipped through the reports she had discovered. They currently sat in an abandoned conference room in the sub-levels of an old S.H.I.E.L.D facility, which was now being used as a prison and meeting spot for the Avengers (but that was classified, only a few select people knew about it). There wasn't much around them, only an outdated projector screen and a few discarded chairs. They were in the upper levels of the underground complex, but even then they were pretty far under the surface of the city. The only access points were a few abandoned subway staircases, and they were guarded by heavy security.

The prison itself was used for people deemed unfit to reside in public jails, or people suspected of having unnatural abilities. Technically neither of them were supposed to be there, but she thought Steve ought to look into this case, considering he normally had a more rational thought process when it came to superhuman. Her secret reason was that she couldn't stand to talk to Stark right now, even though he was the one who hacked SHIELD and gave her access to most of the information in the file.

The file itself contained classified information about a case that was forgotten a couple years ago, about a kid named Perseus Jackson, a resident teenager in New York who had stirred up trouble over the past few years. Immediately after that crazy encounter two nights ago, she had used a grainy security photo from a street camera to check the databases for this kid. Despite all her research, she was still really confused as to who he was, and how he did what he did that night.

She quickly snapped back to attention as Steve pulled a paper out of the folder and slid it across the table at her. "I'll admit," he said sounding puzzled, "this kid really does know how to avoid unwanted attention." He pointed the middle of the sheet, which was titled "Sightings and Database Matches." Below it was listed every time the kid had been sighted, and a description of where and when. Steve pointed to an event that dated back to several years ago, and then to the next one, which was dated back only a few months ago.

"See, there's a pattern too," he added, peaking her interest. Maybe this pattern would give them a clue as to who this kid was. "Even though there's only a few sightings, they are almost all during the fall, winter, or spring, when he's in school." He indicated the top few sightings, which were circled, "With the exception of these, which all occurred within a few days of each other and were all random acts of destruction or violence."

Natasha scanned all the dates, and saw the pattern he was indicating. She sat back again and thought for a second. "He also seems to be quite a delinquent, changing schools almost every year due to-," she looked closer at a particular account, "-disruptive classroom behavior," she finished, quoting the principal of one of the kid's previous schools.

"Yea, looks like we've caught a troublemaker, but most of this still doesn't make any sense," Steve pulled the paper back and looked even more confused. "How did he manage to break part of the St. Louis Arch? He must have been only 12 or 13 at the time, and right after that he blew up a school bus!" Natasha nodded, she had already seen all of this and had puzzled over it for a while. "No normal teenager goes around doing stuff like that," she said conclusively. "And don't forget what happened a few nights ago, whatever the heck that kid did to that creature was not natural," she added.

"Yea," Steve said quickly, "are we just going to ignore the fact that SHIELD was hunting this creature in the first place? I didn't hear anything about it until you called me!" Natasha inwardly cringed, this was not a subject she wanted to discuss right now. "I'm sorry," she began again, "it was classified information until the kid apparently killed it and tried to run-"Steve cut across quickly, which was unlike him.

"But Stark was there, and he almost got killed himself! I could have helped, and maybe you wouldn't have had to shoot that kid," he finished quickly. Natasha had to tread lightly, she was involved in too much behind the scenes stuff to let Rogers know everything, especially since she wasn't even completely sure what he knew about it.

The behind the scenes stuff mainly consisted to inside arguments about Steve after several incidents, including his mission with the Winter Soldier and a subway disaster with a potential terrorist threat that had happened a few months later. She was avoiding bias in the argument, but secretly she was planning an argument in his favor, and excluding him from this mission was part of her way to try and get him off of SHIELD's immediate radar.

"I told you," she explained cautiously, "I didn't have a choice, I had to incapacitate him before he got out into public traffic and out of our sight." When Steve still looked skeptical, she added, "I didn't hurt him too bad, only a small shot to the upper shoulder, barely missed the bone and muscle. We treated him as soon as he arrived, but the concussion kept him out for a while."

Suddenly the sound of static filled the room, and they both glanced down at the small black radio sitting by Natasha on the table. She grabbed it and tuned the sound up, clearing away the static. "-just woke up, checked out his surroundings and laid back down, doesn't seem to be any danger right now, we'll keep an eye on him though," a voice crackled out. "It's the secure SHIELD station, she explained quickly, before standing up and gathering up the papers. Steve followed suit, pushing in his chair before following her out of the room and into the nearest elevator.

"Are we going to see him?" Steve asked as she strode through the yawning elevator doors, stepping in after her. "Yes, but first we have to see Fury, he told me he found some secure files buried so deep even Stark couldn't get to them," she explained, "and no doubt Fury will want to come with us to interrogate the kid." Steve nodded, and they stood in silence as the floors ticked past, until finally the doors opened to a large room occupied by a large table and updated projector screen, and a single person reading through a stack of papers.

"Director," Natasha said, stepping through the doors along with Steve. "I brought Rogers up to speed, and we worked out a couple of possible patterns but nothing else," she clarified.

He glanced up, then back down, giving Natasha a quick, pointed, you-shouldn't-have-brought-him-here glare, but she dismissed it, storing the problem for later. "Did you get those deep storage files? I-"she was cut off by the buzz of static from her radio again, but it ended too soon for her to catch whatever was said. She glanced back up and strode over to the tableside, where Fury pushed a small stack of papers at her.

She read through, but was disappointed to discover no new information besides a small paragraph about how the kid had disappeared for a long time very recently and hadn't been sighted in half a year. _Until now,_ she thought.

While she was reading, Steve had oh so gracefully erupted into conversation with Fury about why he had been excluded from SHIELD affairs recently without any explanation. Natasha rolled her eyes as Fury retorted with some standard answers, which revealed absolutely nothing. They both began to grow increasingly frustrated, and just before she was about to step in and break them up, the lights above them flickered. Natasha's radio flared again, but the only sound that came out this time was a low bleeping noise. She glanced it over and tired adjusting the frequency, but to no avail. Raising an eyebrow, she pulled Fury's tablet closer to her and tried accessing the security cameras.

Suddenly the lights blinked off again, and remained off as all three of them froze in surprise. Then the emergency lights kicked in, giving the room a dim eerie glow. Steve and Fury glanced at each other and then to her, leaning in to get a glimpse of the security footage. Fury strode over to the panel near the elevators and flipped it open, fiddling with the switches, but to no avail.

He pulled a similar radio out of his coat pocket and turned it on. "This is Nicholas Fury, code Alpha 0-0-2-3-3, requesting a report on the situation in the basement," he spoke firmly into the top, but only received static back. While he fiddled with it as she had, Natasha focused on accessing the security cameras. Surprisingly, all she saw was grey static or blank screens in the place of all the camera footage. Knitting her eyebrows together, she tired a couple passwords and hacking techniques, but nothing changed. She glanced back at Steve's confused face, closing the tablet. "I'm going to check it out down there, "she said, striding for the elevator. "I'm coming too," Steve added, following her to the elevator doors.

"No one is going anywhere until we figure out what's going on down there," Fury said firmly. She punched the button anyways, but was left even more puzzled when nothing happened. Glancing up, she noticed that the lights above the elevator had gone dark.

"Looks like no one is going anywhere anytime soon," Steve commented, trying the button as well. Fury strode over to his tablet and furiously typed away, while Steve tried forcing the elevator doors open. Struggling, he managed to shove them open while Natasha fiddled with the control panel. Glancing up, she saw only darkness, and upon further examination, saw that the elevator car was nowhere near them. "Well now we're really stuck," she said, annoyed.

Steve leaned into the elevator shaft as she had and reached out for the elevator cable, but it was too far away for him to reach. "Hey, Nat," he said cautiously, "I mean, agent Romanoff," he amended quickly, "are there any other ways out of this room?" He already assumed the answer, because if there were any other exits he assumed that's what they would be using.

She glanced back at him as she pried back a few wires in the elevator control panel. "No," she cast a quick glance at Fury, "this is a secret meeting room, couldn't make it too accessible I guess," she finished with a huff, internally cursing whoever designed this building. Sighing, she looked at him and affirmed what he was already thinking. "It's one of the reasons the building was discontinued for use in the first place," she explained, "faulty structure after an accident and the lack of exits. Anything happens up there," she gestured to the ceiling and turned back to the panel, "and we get a few tons of rock dropped onto us."

She could sense Steve's obvious growing distress, but he didn't say anything as he strode back to the meeting table. Several tense, silent minutes later, a large rumble sounded from somewhere in the structure beneath them. She banged her fist in frustration against the panel and slammed it shut, clearly going nowhere. Nick Fury glanced up from whatever he was doing on the tablet with a look of frustration and tension before resuming his work. Steve stopped striding around the room and gave her a hard look.

She glanced around a bit more frantically, trying to hide her similarly growing distress. Suddenly her eyes caught on something she hadn't considered before, the air vent in the ceiling. It was big enough that if she could get up there, she might be able to find a passage to a main hallway or staircase.

"What is it?" Steve asked, recognizing her "I got a plan" face. She pointed to the air duct and explained her plan. "If I can just get high enough up, I should be able to climb it," she said with as much confidence as possible. It wasn't much comfort when they both looked at her skeptically, but she had learned not to doubt her abilities. "Need a boost?" Steve made a step up with his hands and got ready to lift her up.

Now feeling a little skeptical herself, she strode forward and pulled a small knife out of her back pocket. She stepped into his cupped hands and felt him push her towards the ceiling vent. She braced herself against the grated shaft with one hand and tried unscrewing one of the corners. With a successful PING, the screw dropped out and landed on the carpet. Before she could attack the next one however, a large rumbling sound came from almost directly above her. Starting slightly, she braced both hands against the metal and listened intently, casting a glance downward at Steve.

Seeing her concern, he braced himself and she hopped down. "What the hell was that?" Fury questioned, looking up. There were several seconds of silence, before another large crash sounded again, even closer this time. Natasha quickly drew her small handgun, hastily followed by Fury.

There was a low rumbling sound, like something banging on metal, then nothing. "Nat," Steve asked quickly, "what floor is directly above us?" She shook her head, trying to remember. "I, I think there's a maintenance staircase and some offices," she said quickly. They all stood still, in a tense silence, ready for action. There was a pause, then the most unexpected thing happened.

Someone fell _through_ the air vent.

She dove backwards as twisted metal, glass, and chunks of ceiling rained down. Rolling onto her side, she blindly took aim at the floor, trying to get a glimpse of what just happened. She couldn't spot Fury, but Steve had also rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding being squashed by whatever fell through.

That thing, it turned out, was a person. And not just any person, it was that kid from the alley. The kid that she shot. The kid that was supposed to be in security cell in the basement.

Giving herself half a second to be shocked, she stood and aimed her gun at the teen. Steve was pressed flat against the wall, directly behind the teen, and looking stunned. Scrambling to his feet, he looked up at the shaft and then back down at the kid. Natasha inched forward and kept her gun trained on him all the while, but lowered it after the she noticed he wasn't moving. Steve noticed too, and bent down to examine him as Nick Fury strode to her side.

"Is he dead?" she asked in a stunned voice. There was blood pooling around his torso, and speckles of blood spattered the metal and carpet around him. She knelt next to Steve and helped him, trying to find any severe wounds. They both jumped back and Fury aimed his gun as the teen suddenly started in a fit of coughing. He groaned and tried to shift, but cringed at the slight movement. He rolled slowly onto his back and Natasha saw what was causing all the blood, there was a large gash in his leg, probably caused by the impact. He slowly opened his eyes and blearily took in the situation. Natasha almost felt bad for him, she could see the fear and surprise building in his eyes, and she guessed all the noise and commotion was him trying to escape.

 _How could a teenager get past so many guards unarmed and make it so far?_ She wondered. Meeting Steve's eyes and glancing at the broken air vent, she knew that this kid had a serious plan backfire. Looking back down as he tried to sit up, she noticed that he was well built, and looked strong even covered in blood and considering he had just fell through an air vent.

Taking in the situation, she saw a silver lining. At least now she would be able to get some answers to her questions about who the hell this kid was.

 _PERCY'S POV_

I am so totally screwed.

 **A/N**

 **Please read and review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

 **Actually kill me this was so hard to write. I'm fighting through having zero inspiration and intense writers block but I finally had no choice to confront it and keep the story going-hope you still like it even after all the changes it's gone through. I really appreciate all your support.**

Nico's POV

 _He wakes up surrounded by the fog._

Where am I? _His first thought echoes slowly through his brain before he can process it properly. He can't see anything but the swirling, thick, endless fog. He sees nothing beneath him but he still feels as if he's cemented to the floor. He remembers nothing, not even his own name. He feels confused, like he's forgotten something, but before he can grasp it the thoughts skirt out of reach._

 _Tentatively reaching out his arm, he swirls it through the eerie mist. His own heart beating is the only thing he can hear, everything else is silent. The mist ebbs and flows in swirling tendrils around him, neither hot nor cold to the touch. The smoky fog flows around his outstretched hand, and slowly he takes a hesitant step forward, uncertain where his foot will land. To his surprise it's solid underfoot, but the sensation of floating stays with him. The endless mist stretches out before him, and with a wobbly determination he makes his way through the unknown._

 _Then he hears the moans. Unimaginably eerie, they sound far away, but soon grow closer as he makes his way blindly through the fog, sending chills up his spine. Afraid suddenly, he stops moving as his limbs begin to shake. Breath caught in his throat, he takes another shaky step towards the source of the noise, curiosity and confusion winning over the fear. He wishes suddenly that he-_

 _The thought disappears before he can grasp it. On the verge of crawling into a ball and hiding from the world, he pushes forward a few more stumbling steps, and then he sees it. The fog is parting, something dark waits ahead. It's tall and black, with limbs like arms reaching high above it. Breaking into a quicker pace, he drags his disoriented self towards the object. He realizes that the moaning has ceased, and he is again completely alone._

 _Suddenly another sound catches his ear. It sounds like someone dragging a branch across dead leaves, and it gives him a sense of panic and fear the likes of which he's never felt before, or so he thinks. More put together now, he reacts quicker and spins around, searching for the source of the noise. Nothing but fog lays behind him, but now he realizes it's gathering thicker near the ground. Feeling suddenly like his eyes are truly opening for the first time, his vision goes blurry as shapes begin to form around the edge of his darkening vision. Weakly he lets out a cry that turns into a sharp gasp as he hits the ground._

 _Blinking the fog out of his eyes, he sits up blearily and presses his hands against his suddenly throbbing head. Then like a switch being turned on, his senses pull together and he can see what's around him._

 _He's lying in a thicket of straw like grass, their edges poking into his body. But the grass is not green, its grey and stiff, and almost as tall as his knees. He looks down at his hands and slowly raises himself up, seeing that they too are grey. Everything is grey and colorless. Panic growing in him, he feels the tug of forgotten memories at the back of his mind, but they're too far out of reach. Breath beginning to hitch in his throat, he realizes he is no longer alone. He raises himself to his feet as pure terror floods through him. Spinning quickly around, he sees that he's surrounded by shadow like people, all grey like himself. They aren't people, more like shades of whatever their former selves were. The air around them is lighter grey, like a permanent fog, and they drag their feet through the endlessly stretching thicket of grass, moaning in pain and sorrow. Fear almost making him sick, he sees that between them stand tall dead birch trees, void of fruit or any leaves. He hears the moans more clearly now, they're all moaning the same phrase, though it has no meaning to him._

" _The fields!" The nearest shadow cries. Its eyes turn and lock with Nico's for a second, and he takes a quick step back in horror._

" _The fields, the Asphodel fields! Save us Hades!_

 **A/N**

 **Reviews keep the story alive! I'm also looking for beta readers so if you're interested (even if you don't have a beta profile) please PM me!**


End file.
